In Rapture’s Angel by Sylvie F. Sommerfield, star-crossed lovers face challenges, including an evil man, a marriage of convenience turned to love, and efforts to destroy their relationship.
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Rapture’s Angel by Sylvie F. SommerfieldRating:
Published: 1982
Illustrator: Walter Popp
Imprint or Line: Zebra Historical Romance
Published by: Kensington
Genres: Historical Romance, Bodice Ripper, Pirate Romance
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Buy on: Amazon, AbeBooks
Reviewed by: Blue Falcon
TOTAL SPOILER ALERT ⚠
The Book
This review is of Rapture’s Angel by Sylvie F. Sommerfield, a 1982 Zebra historical romance.
The Plot
On the ship The Wayfarer two star-crossed lovers are trying to escape an evil man, Esteban Ortega. Sadly, the woman in the couple, Anna D’Santiago, will die when giving birth to the heroine of the book, Angelique Montalban.
Angelique’s father, Miguel Montalban, asks the captain of the ship, Robert Courtland, to hide Angelique in a convent until she reaches her majority. Also on board the ship is the cabin boy, Devon Carlisle—only 10 at the time, he will become the hero of the book.
Fast forward 20 years. Angelique witnesses the brutal rape and murder of her friend. This sends her into a depressed state of shock. After this, the Mother Superior of her convent asks Robert and Dev to take Angelique away for her safety.
The two men hatch a plan: if Angelique and Dev marry, they will be able to protect her.
What begins as a marriage of convenience quickly becomes a marriage of love for Dev and Angel. This doesn’t sit well with Ortega when he finds out about their marriage, nor does it sit well with Polly Dillon, Dev’s former lover, who hoped she would marry Dev.
Polly and Ortega later collaborate to destroy Dev and Angel’s marriage and their lives. Ortega, with Polly’s assistance, kidnaps Angel.
Eventually, Miguel rescues her. However, that’s not the end of the story.
Miguel takes Angel back to Spain, but not to Dev.
Dev, meanwhile, is captured by Ortega, who leaves Dev with one of his henchmen, who inflicts emotional, mental, physical, and sexual torture on Dev.
Dev later kills the man and is rescued by his best friend, Captain Andrew Ryan. But, by this time, Dev believes, erroneously, that Angel betrayed him. Dev plans to get revenge on both Angel and Miguel.
However, Angel’s love is strong enough to overcome Dev’s hatred, hurt, and pain. After learning secrets about her father and family, Angel and Dev go on to have their Happily Ever After.
The Upside
Mrs. Sommerfield did a very good job of letting me, as a reader, know her characters. They were fairly well-developed, and their actions were, for the most part, understandable.
The Downside
The ending of Rapture’s Angel was both unsatisfactory to me and felt a little rushed. I felt Mrs. Sommerfield could have laid out the backstory of the reasons Miguel and Ortega hated each other earlier and better.
Sex
Mrs. Sommerfield was not an erotica writer, although there is a bit more pepper in the soup here than in her earlier work.
Heat Level
Rapture’s Angel is a one-pepper romance in the upper levels of the warm steam factor.
Violence
Dev’s abuse is described slightly. Dev’s killing of his tormentor is slightly graphic in description. Other scenes of assault and battery.
Bottom Line on Rapture’s Angel
Rapture’s Angel by Sylvie F. Sommerfield is a low 4-star book for me. There’s a lot to like here, but the ending was a bit of a letdown.
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| Overall: | 3.8 |
Synopsis
When Angelique was put on board the Wayfarer, she was in a state of shock and confusion. After seeing what those men had done to her best friend, she had completely withdrawn from the real world.
Devon took one look at the beautiful, delicate young woman and became lost in the deep purple pools of her eyes. He knew at that very moment that he had to possess and protect this rare, precious creature and have her as his own.
Angelique took one look at the strikingly handsome stranger and felt a sudden warmth sweep through her body. His eyes were gentle, his voice so tender, but his touch was like a flame setting her flesh on fire.
And slowly they came together in blazing love and passion. Devon calmed her fears and made her whole again. In return she captured his heart forever and became for him RAPTURE’S ANGEL.
Rapture’s Angel by Sylvie F. Sommerfield